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I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international
consultants. About living in Italy, the Veneto area near Venice; in Indonesia,
central Java. Why we love the southeast of the United States and moved back from
Italy. Our love for gardening, the botanical way. Sharing with you our manifold
treasures from exotic places and even offering several in my Mariette's Back to
Basics LLC Boutique, for others to enjoy. As well as high end silver items from
Giovanni Raspini, Italy |
google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

I
also do classes and consulting... too much to list here! Check out my google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedderABOUT page, where you see my other LINKS and email address; you just scroll down.Thanks!

Love to
bring back some romance and quality to the daily life of others...

Thursday, March 3, 2016

It was shortly before midnight on March 23, 1987 when the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program delegation arrived at their Kunlun Hotel in Beijing, China!

A very cold hotel, that still was under construction... New, and not totally completed yet!

BUT with very nice rooms.

After a shower and emptying the suitcases, Pieter went to bed; tired...
It now has been 3 days in the air for finally arriving here and staying for 4 nights!

In the morning, things looked different and Pieter did explore his new surroundings.

The Kunlun Hotel is seen to the left in his photo←click on hyperlink for slide show of actual hotel.

Luckily, Beijing International Airport was not far away from the hotel.

The gray area to the upper right is the airport and the red marker is where the hotel is.

The red star is where the hotel is, lots of high rise buildings at present time.

This is on the Liangma (Landmark) River, below the hotel where Pieter walked to assess his new surroundings.

Cold and still rainy...

Here, on this Google map, you can see where the river is so you get an idea as well.

The hotel name was correct, they only seem to have changed the street name and phone number.

It is a 29-story Hotel.

Only one block away from the diplomatic residential compound, within walking distance of the Lufthansa shopping center, and has easy access to the International airport.

Early morning, Pieter felt so sorry for all the young waitresses, dressed in a crisp white blouse and black skirt, lined up in the windy hall! They must have been freezing...
Because it was still open, not yet closed in as you can see on this photo, still carving on blocks inside the lobby area.For breakfast, the entire delegation kept their coats on due to the windy draft going through this area of the hotel... Brrrr!

This is outside of the hotel, beside the entrance...

Can anyone read this text?...

It was quite a study for observing how they create this!

The paper is covered over the stone... But it is a precise art!

This painted mural was also in the lobby area, with a blooming bonsai in front and other plants.

And this... Looks like a family to me.

First meeting in the capital, with people from the University of Beijing.
As a microbiologist and mushroom expert, Pieter did give two lectures that day as they visited the Beijing University and their Research facility.Keep in mind, this was NOT a vacation trip...
While in the People's Republic of China, the delegation was under the official sponsorship of the China International Exchange Association of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery.
The Ministry also did provide English-speaking guides.

Look at the huge room for such a meeting...Tea was served and it must have been rather difficult for communication across such distances!

The Chinese were very eager to gather knowledge and to exchange with this group of mushroom people from the USA.Some of them did recognize husband Pieter as they had been several years back at his Practical Training College in Horst, The Netherlands!

Gifts got exchanged between the Americans and Chinese...Pieter of course did offer his English book about Modern Mushroom Growing.
They were very pleased but told him that they just got it in Chinese!
That sure did perplex Pieter and he didn't believe it.
However, they went to the library and showed it to him. Pieter made these pictures.

Of course we can only read husband Pieter's name...

The cover of husband Pieter's book.
They just stole it, without asking permission...
If they only would have asked, Pieter could have provided them with the negatives for the photos, so the end result looked a lot better than their poor copies of photos. Also the paper quality was poor.BUT one of the delegates, Jin-Torng Peng, Ph.D from Taichung, Taiwan promised to give Pieter a copy towards the end of the trip...

The day got partly video taped by the Chinese TV and rounded up with a nice banquet attended by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and People to People delegates.

19 comments:

How wonderful to have these memories captured in photos. What a lovely experience it must have been ... and to have a first hand view of such artistic talent in action - priceless. Thank you for sharing these with us. Blessings, Celia xo

Your new header is so Spring like and lovely. Before reading your posts, I never knew that the mushroom business was so renowned. You two did get to some amazing places over the years. Quite an experience.

Deaerst Mariette, thankyou for this great post, it is great to see and hear about this country. I never have been there, and I guess, I never will get there ..Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week,Love and hugs,Claudia xo

That carving on the stone is quite amazing! It must require very delicate skill. It's so cool that some of Chinese people recognized Pieter from the time in Netherlands. But it sure is disappointing that they translated his book without permission :-(

ello Mariette,Very interesting trip, you make wish I could go there too!I would think the carving this guy was carving on the hotel wall would be some kind of 'mantric' protection and good luck... Just my guess.I am truly happy that you feel so good now, what a relief in your daily life :)Keep that way!Warms hugs from the other side of the ocean!

Dear Mariette, A nice cultural exchange and so nice that Pieter was recognized once again from the university. Too bad about the hotel being under construction and cold, but interesting to see the stone carving. It must have been very infuriating to find out that his book was copied without permission! Seems like they didn't realize it was wrong! Hope you are having a good week, my dear. Hugs xo Karen

Dearest Mariette,I have started reading Pieter's trip to East Asia since your first post and thank you for sharing his experience. I particularly like the way you present the hotels compared to their present condition. It is very interesting, and something I also use to do in my travel albums!!!! Looking forward to reading the continuation of this amazing trip!Many hugs to you and have a nice weekend!